Commerce changes the fate and genius of nations.
–Thomas Gray
In Part 1, I covered Nationalism as a value proposition for human spaceflight, and pointed out the challenges that must be addressed to make it an enduring one in a changing world. Today I continue the examination on value propositions for human spaceflight in Part 2: Commerce.
Reason 2: Commerce. The development of transportation infrastructure in the United States and commerce are inextricably linked. The need to transport goods quickly, tying into existing waterways and reducing or eliminating over-land routes that were slow or non-existent, drove development of the canal system in the northeast by private interests in the early nineteenth century. The same drive is what led to the subsequent ascendency of the railroads, again achieved mainly through private investment with minimal federal guidance. As for aviation, one doesn’t have to go very far to point out the successes of the Wright Brothers, funded from their own sweat equity, versus the comparatively expensive and unsuccessful Government-backed Langley efforts at “heavier than air” travel. Subsequent aviation was fueled by the airmail contract of the 1920s and 1930s, then by passenger service started in the 1930s, then “took off” following World War II and exploded in the 1970s following deregulation. The National Highway System leveraged off the development of the automobile to transport goods and peoples to a wide ranges of destinations, plus provide Americans with a degree of mobility not available with any other form of transportation. (That is, until we get the flying cars of the Jetsons.)
Historically, NASA has not played a strong role in commerce. Instead, NASA has had a long history of technological developments that have been licensed to commercial companies. These “spinoffs” have made their way into numerous products that many of us take for granted today, and yet the impact of NASA on the economy is one that the Agency continues to struggle to communicate. So in that regard, NASA and commerce have been at best a second-order effect.
Until now.
